There are some pretty things growing in our gardens… The cauliflower is purple and white. The tomatoes are red, orange, yellow, and green. The chili peppers are yellow and red, and they point up in a friendly way. There are little, purple buds on the green bean plants, and the slow eggplant finally has some lovely blossoms. The cucumbers are a soft green and white, scattered here and there. It is beautiful to see a living garden.

But our garden isn’t perfect, either. Those seeds we planted at the beginning of the season didn’t quite work out. The hollyhocks never grew, which is a bummer because they’re from my grandma. I think we’ll try again next summer. The squash and pumpkin plants grew initially, but then I didn’t plant them because I couldn’t find the right place, and it was too late. We did plant one squash in Morris’s garden, but the single fruit fell off the vine and never matured. We’ll try again next year. Our green bean plants have not been as productive; last season they bloomed and we picked over and over. And, the eggplants still don’t have any fruit, which Jude’s did last season by July.

And, there’s more. The Japanese beetles ate holes in our cucumber leaves. Squash bugs attacked some cucumbers, and those nasty tomato hornworms really attacked Rex’s tomato plant, and therefore, reduced his crop.

Plus, we’ve weeded much less this season, so random weeds have found a home in our garden beds…

We know there’s no such thing as a perfect garden because the gardeners aren’t perfect either. But who needs perfection? The pests and weeds and unpredictability make it interesting!